May 31
1800s *1869 - The first rain out in professional baseball occurs as heavy rain postpones the Red Stockings game against the Anioch Nine. 1900s 1910s *1914 - Joseph Benz of the Chicago White Sox pitched a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians for a 6–1 victory. 1920s *1927 There were an unassisted triple play for the second consecutive day in the major leagues. During the ninth inning of a 1–0 game at Tiger Stadium, Detroit first baseman John Neun completed the rare play by catching a Homer Summa line drive, tagging Charlie Jamieson between first and second, and then touched second before Glenn Myatt could return. Detroit beat the Indians 1–0. 1930s *1937 - Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants ended his 24-game winning streak with a 10-3 loss to the Brooklyn Dodgers. His last defeat came on July 13, 1936, 1–0 to the Chicago Cubs. *1938 - Lou Gehrig played in his 2000th consecutive game and collected a RBI-single helping the Yankees defeat the Boston Red Sox, 12–5. 1940s *1944 - Al Unser hit his only home run of the season, a pinch-hit grand slam with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, helping the Detroit Tigers beat the New York Yankees 6–2. 1950s 1960s *1961 - Batting for Carl Yastrzemski, Boston Red Sox pinch hitter Carroll Hardy bunted for a single in the eighth inning of 7–6 loss to the Yankees. Hardy will be the only player to pinch-hit for both Yastrzemski and Ted Williams. *1964 - At Shea Stadium, the New York Mets and the San Francisco Giants played the longest doubleheader in major league history – nine hours, 52 minutes – with the help of a 23-inning game in the nightcap that was won by the visiting Giants 8–6 on run-scoring hits by Del Crandall and Felipe Alou against Galen Cisco. The game took 7:23 to play. In the opener, Juan Marichal pitched a complete game and Orlando Cepeda went 3-for-4 with two runs and one RBi for a Giants 5–3 victory. 1970s *1970 - Luis Aparicio and Walt Williams of the Chicago White Sox each collected five hits in a 22–13 rout of the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park. Williams also scored five times. Chicago (24) and Boston (16) collected 40 hits, one short of the American League record for two teams in a regular game set in 1950. 1980s *1980 - Ken Landreaux of the Minnesota Twins went 0-for-4 in the 11–1 loss to the Baltimore Orioles, ending his hitting streak at 31 consecutive games. It was the longest streak in the American League since Dom DiMaggio hit during 34 games in a row in 1949. *1983 - American League President Lee MacPhail suspended Yankees owner George Steinbrenner for one week, citing "repeated problems" with the outspoken owner's public criticism of umpires. Steinbrenner, who had been fined $50,000 by Commissioner Bowie Kuhn during spring training for berating some National League umpires, cannot attend games or be in his Yankee Stadium office during the suspension. 1990s *1997 - Ila Borders became the first woman to play in a minor league game. The St. Paul Saints reliever gives up three runs to the Sioux Falls Canaries without recording an out, but redeemed herself the next day by striking out the side. *1999 - Umpire Frank Pulli used a television replay to take away a home run from Cliff Floyd of the Florida Marlins in the fifth inning of a 5–2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. 2000s *2001 - At Safeco Field, Seattle Mariners ace Aaron Sele trimmed the Baltimore Orioles, 2–1. Sele is now 8-0 and the Mariners are 40-12. The Orioles only run was Cal Ripken's 420th career home run. *2002 - Carlos Beltrán hit a grand slam and added a solo home run in the 11th inning to pace the Royals to a 10–7 victory over Texas. His solo shot was the first of three consecutive home runs in the 11th, as Mike Sweeney and Joe Randa followed suit. The Royals became just the second major league team to hit at least three consecutive home runs in extra innings. Minnesota had four consecutive home runs from Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall and Harmon Killebrew, also in the 11th inning, on May 2, 1964. Neifi Pérez also homered for the Royals, and Alex Rodriguez hit two for Texas. *2005 - The Kansas City Royals hired Buddy Bell as their new manager, three weeks after Tony Peña resigned. Bell, the bench coach for the Indians, had previously managed Detroit and Colorado. *2006: **Roger Clemens agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Houston Astros to come back for a 23rd season, or at least the remaining four months of the current season. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner ended his seven-month retirement by accepting a deal that will pay him approximately $12.8 million – the pro-rated value of his $22,000,022 seasonal contract – to pitch for the Astros for the balance of the current season. **José Castillo hit a home run in his fifth straight game as Pittsburgh beat Milwaukee for the third consecutive time, 6–1, at PNC Park. Sean Casey and Jason Bay hit back-to-back homers while Freddy Sánchez went 3-for-4 with three runs. Pittsburgh has outscored Milwaukee 32–5 through the first three games of this four-game series. **The Kansas City Royals replaced general manager Allard Baird with Dayton Moore of the Atlanta Braves organization. Holding the worst record in the majors at 13-37, the floundering Royals are on pace to lose 100 or more games for the fourth time in five seasons. Births *1950 - Tippy Martinez, All-Star pitcher *1962 - Joe Orsulak, outfielder *1967 - Kenny Lofton, All-Star outfielder *1970 - Dilson Torres, pitcher *1971 - José Malavé, outfielder *1972 - Dave Roberts, outfielder *1975 - Mac Suzuki, pitcher *1981 - Jake Peavy, pitcher *1981 - Ray Olmedo, infielder Deaths *1935 - Case Patten, pitcher (b. 1874) *1937 - Long John Reilly, infielder (b. 1858) *1947 - Jimmie Wilson, All-Star catcher (b. 1900) *1985 - Jake Early, All-Star catcher (b. 1915) *1987 - Jerry Adair, infielder (b. 1936)